suō ergo sum :: i sew, therefore i am

Category: film petit

so so fun, you guys (do i say that every time? i might). Jess, Shannon, and I each picked one of the three main characters in 1986’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, directed by John Hughes. though the movie came out when i was pretty little, i’ve seen it quite a few times, especially in high school. it’s about three high school kids, Ferris (ringleader), Sloane (girlfriend), and Cameron (best friend) who skip school and end up having an epic time in downtown Chicago, narrowly escaping discovery by their creepy principal and family at every turn.

i sewed a mini version of Ferris’ best friend, Cameron Frye (played by Alan Ruck). he’s a hypochondriac, nervous, goofy guy that’s really great at impersonating adults on a phone call. Ferris ropes him in due to the fact that Cameron’s dad has a red Ferrari that Ferris uses to dupe the school into releasing Sloane. he is the most reluctant with the most to lose in the escapade, but he joins in.

Cameron has a couple different looks, and i got a big kick out of shrinking it down for two-year-old O. i realized that this is probably the least “costume-y” outfit i’ve made him yet for film petit, and i’m sure he’ll wear these clothes a ton.

aside from the cream knit on the jersey, tiny bit of plaid, and the suspender supplies, the fabric here is all upcycled from my husband’s donate pile!

for the chinos, i used the basic pocket pants pattern from Growing up Sew Liberated in 2T. i narrowed the leg and eliminated the cuffs, adding a faux fly and a slightly wider waistband with patch pockets in the back. the pockets have plaid lining to invoke the tam that Cameron wears in the movie.

the gray caduceus shirt is my fave – it’s so simple but has such a unique style to it. pattern is Rae’s flashback skinny tee in 2T with short sleeves and another freezer paper stencil. i applied the fabric paint lightly for a more vintage-y look. i found both freezer paper stencil outlines via google image search and cut them by hand.

i made the suspenders using this tutorial, which was awesome. i liked that it had adjustable vest buckles, made it feel authentic.

all together now! hockey Cameron…

and casual suspender Cameron…

can you tell O had a blast modeling? i had hoped to get photos at an art gallery but also didn’t want to take him to the actual art gallery. suddenly i had the idea to go to Powell’s where they have a rotating art exhibit in the Pearl Room. black and white art, plenty of room for photos, not too crowded, nothing breakable, free of charge. perfect.

now, while little Cameron climbs back into bed to sleep off his crazy afternoon, head over to check out what his buddies are up to!

it was only a matter of time before we were lured in by the amazing costumes in the visually stunning moonrise kingdom, which came out earlier in 2012. this movie is a story of Sam the khaki scout and Suzy the rebellious bookworm, two kids that each feel alone on opposite sides of the wooded Island of New Penzance until they meet each other by chance. they begin corresponding, then they plan a daring runaway meet up and outdoor adventure, which culminates in a wedding! here are a few shots from the movie to set the scene i was inspired by:

while Suzy’s collared dress is an iconic garment in the movie, her coat in this scene really blew me away too. i love the rosy-raspberry colors set against the greenery of the island and Sam’s khaki scout uniform, as well as the unique design. i knew if i made a coat like that for Em, she’d likely get a lot of use out it as a winter coat, so i went for it! and I knew Sam’s uniform details would be fun to tackle in their own right.

it’s film petit time! it’s also October, the spooky month of Halloween. this month, my partner Jessica, our guest Jessica, and i were in the mood to sew something a little creepier than our normal fare. today we present to you outfits inspired by the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. we each picked a Hitchcock movie that inspired us, and i chose 1960’s Psycho.

as with all of our film petit choices so far, Hitchcock films hold special meaning for me. my husband and i met in high school, and one of the first things i learned about him was that he is a major movie buff. our school offered Film as an “English” class senior year, and he was one of two students that the teacher actually created a Film 2 class for because he was so into it! his semester-long Film 2 project was an in-depth analysis of the films of Alfred Hitchcock. i went ahead and piggy backed on that when i took Film as a senior the next year, while he was off at college taking “music in film and television” class. movie buff? more like movie fanatic.

so many things make Hitchcock movies great. they’re spooky as heck but not typically gory. the plots have twists and turns, they can scare the pants off you but make you laugh too, and a lot of the creepiness is created through music and camera angles and what you don’t see. the soundtrack of Psycho is one of the greatest soundtracks of all time, and the shower scene is probably one of the most recognizable (and freakiest) scenes in film history (never seen it? well here you go). trust me, it never gets easier to watch! i got all jumpy just putting together this collage!

it was actually my husband’s idea to recreate that iconic scene at the bates motel, showing a mini norman bates transformed into “mother” and then back to clean up the mess she made. the original plan was to have O model the looks, but he refused to wear the wig so I switched my model to Em and retooled a bit.

for mother’s nightgown, i sewed a made by rae pierrot tunic with shirred neckline and sleeves, in 18-24 months extended to 3T. that would’ve fit O just fine but was much too short on Em, so i added a 6″ ruffle and vintage lace trim inherited from my grandma to make it long enough for her to wear as a nightgown. the yarn wig is based on this tutorial from this mama makes stuff (hers is for rapunzel, but i made it the same way).

the felt knife i made up on my own, quilting together three layers of gray felt with metallic silver thread, then wrapping brown felt around it for a handle. i had to starch the heck out of it so it wasn’t too floppy and i’d probably use better reinforcement next time…not that i plan to make too many felt knives in the future!

of course Em has never seen any part of the movie, but when i asked her to act like a “mean old lady” and handed her the felt knife, i was shocked to see her get SO into character!

she called the knife a “sword” and had a grand old time recreating the shower scene.

we all go a little mad sometimes. haven’t you?

this one’s downright GLEEFUL. not sure whether to worry about her or sign her up for acting classes. ;)

for the norman bates outfit, she’s just wearing store-bought jeans and a button down shirt, plus O’s fantastic mr. fox jacket (pattern is the basic blazer by blank slate patterns). it actually looked so good on her i might need to make her a blazer of her own!

here are a few more of the creepy “mother” scenes from Psycho…an attack on the staircase, her spot in bed, and the final reveal, plus one of our favorite lines.

little mrs. bates has grown tired from her murderous rampage.

while she waits for new victims to arrive at the motel, you should head over to check out what the jessicas made – they both sewed outfits from The Birds but had very different takes on it! their photos are also in color, if you’re currently feeling color-deprived.

our guest jessica from running with scissors sewed an outfit for her son, another four year old that got WAAAAY into his role fleeing from flocks of crows! check out her post right here…if you dare! her photos are a crack up.

my partner jessica over at a little gray made a tiny tippi hedren suit, and it’s SO great – her little gal is far too sweet to be scary, but her outfit is totally spot on!

***

here are the guidelines for film petit:

every month or so, Jessica and i (plus a guest blogger) will sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love. our next guest will be robin from nested in stitches!

please feel free to add any movie-inspired kid sewing to the film petit flickr group. if you sew along with our film petit choices, we’d love to see that too!

this is a pretty relaxed series, really the only rule is to make outfits for kids based on films you love. if you have any questions, please let either of us know.

our spooooooky october edition of film petit is currently under production, so jess and i thought we’d take a moment to each pick a few faves from the flickr group to highlight! i get such a kick out of seeing at what people have added there, and thought you’d like to see too! sound good? okay.

i’ve got the sweet, the brave, and the downright creepy.

*if you’d like to pin any of these images, please click through to the original sources so they get proper credit – thank you!*

the sweet:

our very own film petit guest Cherie from you & mie made this adorable Mei-Chan costume from My Neighboro Totoro for the Season 4 Project Run & Play movie week sew along. isn’t it just perfect?! if you’re a Miyazaki fan and you’ve never seen Cherie’s Totoro costume from last year, go check that out too. you’re in for a treat.

the Hunger Games books and movies are a colossal hit, and i love that a couple talented ladies made mini Katniss Everdeens. tara from true, pure, lovely made a blue “reaping dress” by extending a figgy’s ayashe blouse (look how excited her little gal is to volunteer as tribute! totally cracks me up).

meanwhile, love assembled made a fantastic hunting outfit complete with bow and arrow and game bag! check out her post; she made a costume for little sister prim, too!

the downright creepy:

i’ll leave you with this. the girls from the shining by flickr user glow planet. yipes. just…yipes.

that should set the tone nicely for our Halloween edition of film petit, i think! if you’ve made (or are making) any movie-inspired costumes for your kids this Halloween, please add them to the flickr group! we’d love to see it continue to grow! and check out jess’s favorites right here!

check back soon, we’re planning to scare the daylights out of you (not really…we’re aiming for a little creepy but totally want to make you giggle too. nothing TOO scary, guys. we’re sewing bloggers for pete’s sake! how scary can we be?*).

time for the next installment of film petit! this month, we were itching to do another wes anderson movie. they’re just full of inspiration! we considered a few, but decided that the month of september, with its golden light and cooler weather, was the perfect month for fantastic mr. fox. so that’s what we did!

fantastic mr. fox, based on a book by roald dahl, is about human (fox) nature, love, and family. mr. fox has promised his wife he will never steal from farmers again, but he simply can’t help himself…he decides to secretly do one last big job before he retires forever. he will steal from Boggis, Bunce and Bean – the meanest farmers in the land! the movie is done in stop-motion animation and is one that our whole family never tires of watching. my partners jessica and cherie both sum up the movie better than i do, so check them out if you haven’t already…i’ve got lots of sewing to talk about today!

since i have the oldest girl of the three sewing this month, i got to sew mrs. fox! and because of that, i also sewed mr. fox! i think it is only the second time i’ve ever sewed for both kids and photographed them together, can you believe it? i was worried the photoshoot would be a disaster, but they both played along! yay!

here are some movie stills showing my inspiration for both outfits.

as soon as i looked closely at her dress, i knew the oliver + s school photo dress would be the PERFECT pattern for it. for mr. fox, i sewed the melly sews basic blazer (affiliate link) along with oliver + s sailboat pants. there’s a hidden surprise in his jacket…keep reading!

they both got fox masks, totally overboard on my part but worth it. i made them out of felt and just sketched them out while looking at a photo from the movie. i layered the felt together and topstitched, sandwiching elastic in between.

Em was so excited to be “mrs. fantastic mr. fox” and seemed to love this photoshoot more than any other! i used michael miller cotton couture in mango as the base of her dress. knowing there was no way i’d find the perfect apple print to match the movie, i stamped it myself!

i carved a wine cork with an x-acto knife to make the apple (a heart with a flat bottom), then a pencil eraser cut into a teardrop shape to do a green leaf, then a pencil tip to add a stem. i really love creating my own fabric, as time-consuming as it is. it’s totally theraputic and satisfying.

the pocket of the dress was perfect for her paintbrushes! mrs. fox is an avid painter.

she also has a tail (made out of minky and felt and pinned onto her dress).

for O, i sewed a mr. fox jacket and pants in a burnt orange thin whale corduroy (all fabrics are from fabric depot).

rather than welt pockets in the basic blazer pattern, i used jessica’s tutorial to add flap pockets. i used leather buttons and lengthened the 18-24 month size sailboat pants to 2T for a full-length pant. his shirt is store bought.

i decided to make mr. fox AFTER he lost his tail. a felt bandaid masks his injury.

the jacket also has a special surprise! mr. bean has a secret cider cellar full of apples he created himself. they look like this:

so the lining of O’s jacket naturally looks like this:

i painted the suns and dots onto kona poppy with metallic gold fabric paint! don’t you love a hidden surprise? i sure do!

while these costumes were so much work, they were so fun to make too! here’s the part where my little foxes say goodbye, but there’s LOADS more foxsperation for you to see!

head on over to a little gray to find out what a fox is doing in a grocery store, and to learn the rules of whack bat!

and skedaddle over to check out the adorable outfit our fantastic guest, you & mie, put together for her little gal. it’s truly inspired!!! it was also cherie’s idea(nevermind, it was jessica’s) for all of the kids to wear masks/fox ears – so fun to coordinate that little detail! thanks so much for playing along this month, cherie!!

we hope you’re enjoying film petit, because we’re sure having lots of fun!

****

here are the guidelines for film petit:

every month or so, Jessica and i (plus a guest blogger) will sew an outfit (or outfits) for our kid (or kids) inspired by a movie we love. jess from running with scissors is joining us in October!

if you’d like to play along, please feel free to add any movie-inspired sewing to the film petit flickr group. if you sew along with our film petit choices, we’d love to see that too. we’ll do a round up soon!

if we really like your stuff, we may ask you to join us for a future film!

this is a pretty relaxed series, really the only rule is to make outfits for kids based on films you love. if you have any questions, please let either of us know.